Of course, Google and Wikipedia, Reddit, and Craigslist are going to generate the most hits, the most awareness. But even the smaller sites, like Demonoid, Destructoid, Smodcast, the BoingBoings of the world might not get the headlines, but they're all doing a good thing by giving a figurative finger to The Man. It's kind of neat to have watched the SOPA/PIPA issue grow from just a few nerds on the internet bitching about it to dominating the headlines. There were a lot of naysayers who said it would never gain the traction or public attention to make a difference. It's gratifying to see that it did, even if no ultimate victory is guaranteed.

Anti-SOPA blackouts planned for Wednesday by sites like Wikipedia, Boing Boing, Reddit and others are "stunts" that are "dangerous and troubling", Hollywood's chief lobbyist said.

In a statement issued Tuesday (PDF), MPAA chairman and CEO--and former U.S. Senator--Chris Dodd railed against the blackouts, calling them "an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on [the sites] for information and [who] use their services".

Dodd also said that the blackouts are "an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It's a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests".

“We just feel very let down by the administration and Obama for not supporting us,” one studio chief explained to me. “At least let him remain neutral and not go against it until we can get the legislation right. But Obama went against it. I’m personally not going to support him anymore and not give a dime anymore,” another movie mogul who’s also a well-known Obama supporter told me this week.

The moguls are reminding Obama et al that, in the words of one studio chief, “God knows how much money we’ve given to Obama and the Democrats and yet they’re not supporting our interests. There’s been no greater supporters of him than we’ve been from the first day and the first fundraisers continuing until he was elected. We all were pleased. And, at its heart institutionally, Hollywood supports the Democrats. Now we need the administration to support us. This is a very important time for Hollywood. The issue at hand — piracy — is a legitimate concern. But Google and those Internet guys have been swiftboating the entertainment industry by saying we’re trying to shut down the Internet just because we don’t want them to advertise pirated movies.

This went way better than I imagined. They will try to change the laws later, sure, but I'm pretty damn amazed how well the internet crowds got organized and actually influenced political decisions at the highest level. MPAA is not happy. they are not used to see their paid senators backing off.

madfag look we all call each other faggots on this site. im willing to say there is not one faggot here. with that being said I'd be willing to say any guy here would put you in a dress and have his way with you.

This went way better than I imagined. They will try to change the laws later, sure, but I'm pretty damn amazed how well the internet crowds got organized and actually influenced political decisions at the highest level. MPAA is not happy. they are not used to see their paid senators backing off.

That's because most Senators run roughshod over people in the name of corporate interests. See, there's a lot of bullshit that is pushed through Congress that most people don't know about. So there's few constituents to lose if they snub a handful of grumblers. The funny thing is that this issue garnered enough attention that there are few Congressmen -- even some of the more-obvious bought-and-paid-for-by-the-MPAA-and-RIAA stooges -- who have realized that they might not get reelected if they end up pissing off huge swathes of people. They're not backing off SOPA and PIPA because they believe it's wrong, it's just that the lobbyist money doesn't keep flowing if you can't make it back to office. Either way, yeah, it's far from being over, but it's a little victory at this juncture. And that's something, when you consider how much money and propaganda the opposition has thrown at the issue.

It comes down to this: Will the 1% have enough money, and lobby to influence their politicians, or will saidpoliticians bow to the populist upwelling and let the 99% keep stealing scraps from the 1%'s table? All this shit isa natural result of a shrinking pie, and the ones with the most pieces want to keep them.